The pre-residency jitters are over, as I think they are for the others here. A month, I keep telling myself. I'm going to be here for a month, the longest Sue and I have been apart.

The drive up was uneventful, and alone on the road, like always, my head just swirls. I used my phone to dictate notes, everything from how my Ranger, filled with my stuff, was like my plank in the universe, just like Potpee's. Old memories filled my head, regrets and lost dreams. I stopped at a rest stop where Sue and I had stopped once, and I sensed her ghost there, and she held my hand like she always does.

Everyone here is so friendly, yesterday like the first day at school where everyone is meeting and introducing themsleves. I unpacked. I have a very spacious, but chilly room. And I have my own bathroom! I don't know how I lucked out on that. Maybe the luck of the draw; I know I paid up early and maybe they just assign those rooms first. And it's Vermont! Seven degrees this morning, snow, ice, grubby roads from the sand trucks. I love that they recycle everything here, down to the tiniest piece of paper and table scraps, just like we do at home, just like the rest of the world should. The Green Mountains are just over my shoulder, too, and the Long Trail runs through town, coinciding with a rail trail, perfect for those long walks I take to think.